Banking

Bank of America’s consumer clients made $294 billion of total payments last month, up 16% from a year earlier, as the U.S. economy continued its recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Numerous unaccredited and loosely regulated schools are offering buy now/pay later products as a payment option for students, according to the Student Borrower Protection Center. Its report, which called out PayPal, Klarna, Affirm and Afterpay, comes as the CFPB is considering how to regulate the sector.

Bank of Montreal laid out a plan to sharply reduce emissions connected to loans to the energy and power-generation sectors by 2030 as its aims for a longer-term goal of being net zero.

The Augusta, Maine, credit union has promoted its executive vice president, Stephen Wallace, to succeed H. Tucker Cole, who plans to retire in June.

Sberbank said it’s looking at the possibility of issuing cards using the Russian payments system Mir and China’s UnionPay after Visa and Mastercard suspended operations following the invasion of Ukraine. 

Citigroup says it will add about 900 staffers over the next three years as part of an effort to generate more revenue from midsize firms with global ambitions.

The long-awaited Community Reinvestment Act reform plan is likely to address climate change and bank partnerships with nonbank lenders, while also taking into account the shrinking number of U.S. bank branches, government officials said Monday.

On Dec. 31, 2021. Dollars in thousands.

On Dec. 31, 2021. Dollars in thousands.

U.S. credit unions that serve Ukrainian immigrants are coordinating efforts to provide aid in Ukraine while bracing for cyberattacks at home.

A portion of Goldman Sachs Group’s Russia staff is relocating out of the country as firms react to a global effort to shut off the Russian economy after the invasion of Ukraine.

Five Star Bank, which is based in a rural part of New York state, has embraced digital lending, banking-as-a-service, real-time payments, bitcoin and more. “Those that don’t innovate don’t survive,” says Chief Administrative Officer Sean Willett.

The $7.6 billion deal was originally expected to close in the fourth quarter of last year, but the banks had pushed back their deadline until June. Once the merger is complete, the combined bank will have more than $200 billion in assets.

Empire Financial Federal Credit Union had been placed into conservatorship by the National Credit Union Administration in May because of “unsafe and unsound practices.” Another credit union has assumed its assets and deposits.

The deal with HBI Employees Credit Union follows two other mergers Spire struck last year that brought it to $1.9 billion of assets.

Here is a rundown of the regulatory, diversity, competitive and other challenges that executives explored at the Credit Union National Association's annual gathering in Washington.

Russia reverberations, a rebranding, a resignation and more in banking news this week.

The misclassification of certain cash flows in 2021 was a “material weakness,” according to a securities filing. Management restated the relevant financial statements and promised to lay out a “plan to remediate” the issue.

Credit unions and banks need to ask themselves if they're finding ways to say "yes" to consumers who too often hear "no" from mainstream institutions. Otherwise, they perpetuate a system that excludes the poor and people of color and drive them toward nonbanks, said Pablo DeFilippi of Inclusiv Network and other experts.

The Louisiana-based Barksdale has agreed to purchase HomeBank of Arkansas. It is the fourth deal involving the sale of a bank to a credit union in less than two weeks.